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How to Write Outreach Emails That Don’t Suck

Without email outreach, your blog would be dead in the water. Simply put, you cannot be social and part of the internet community, if nobody knows of your existence. By reaching out to other people, your blog can get the necessary attention.

Unfortunately, getting a response is not as easy as it seems. Bloggers (especially the successful ones) are constantly swamped with mails, either from their fans or other bloggers and companies. That being said, it takes a lot of savvy and marketing prowess to get a positive response.

No worries guys. In this article, I will give you some awesome tips helping you write outreach emails that don’t suck.

Outreach basics

Email communication is the most acceptable type of communication nowadays. Previously, companies would use phone calls to reach their potential clients, audience and partners. Over time, this has become an obsolete concept.

Email allows a person to relax, read the message at his own leisure and similarly, respond to it when they have time. It is a non-aggressive method. As a result, people are more likely to respond to an email pitch compared to phone calls.

Why would you create an outreach in the first place?

To promote or sell a product or a service

To establish communication with a blogger or a company

In both cases, you are the one that requires help. You are the one that has something to offer and because of that, there are certain rules which you have to abide in order to get a positive response.

How should your email template look like?

Like in normal communication, there are certain rules that you have to follow.

Here are some tips for your template:

Great title

Clear and concise

Cheerful but professional

Actionable

Personalized

Great title

What do I mean by great title?

Great title is something that should evoke positive emotions. Something that is more likely to result in cooperation. Receiver sees the title before anything else. If that title is generic or dull, he won’t be intrigued enough to open it.

So, how do we know if a title is any good?

Simple.

It should have receiver’s first name and it should immediately address the issue.

For example:

“Matt, I would like to create an awesome post for you” (for guest posts)

“Ann, would you like to increase your conversion in 3 easy steps?” (pitching a product or service)

“Brad, I need your expert help” (asking for help)

As you can see, these posts are really direct and they are pandering to bloggers. I used phrases such as “awesome post”, “3 easy steps” and “expert help”. Each time, I overhyped the pitch putting emphasis on go-to word. I am not asking for help; I am asking for expert help.

If possible, make sure that your title is not too lengthy as you wouldn’t like for a person to lose interest after the first sentence.

Clear and concise

People easily get confused. Sometimes, bad phrasing can cost you a deal. It makes it even worse as email communication is not a direct communication; there is no way to explain yourself if a person doesn’t understand you.

Generally speaking, it is best if you use plain language, without any complex words or phrases. You should create templates for masses and not for scientists.

To make it even better, make sure to use proper spacing. Your sentences should be short (up to 15 words) and there shouldn’t be more than 2 sentences per paragraph. Email should be easy to read.

You should never use a big chunk of text. No one will read that.

Cheerful but professional

When it comes to sales and marketing, one of the first lessons you will learn is that a good salesman needs to be energetic and to transfer that energy to a potential customer.

We are limited when it comes to emails. Simply put, we do not benefit from our charisma. Still, there is a way to create positive emotions.

Template needs to be light and easy to read. In fact, person shouldn’t perceive it as a stiff business email. Instead, it should be phrased in a way so that a person can read it with his morning coffee.

If there is something within an email causing discomfort, person will most likely send it to spam folder. I guess you wouldn’t like that?

Nevertheless, your email should be professional and polite. Depending on industry, you will have more or less space for improvisation (for example, travel blogger will have no issue with slang unlike financial blogger).

Actionable

Your email should obviously serve some purpose forcing receiver to act. But, how can a receiver know what to do if you haven’t explained it to him?

You need to take his hand and lead him throughout the process. As mentioned before, emails require simplicity to be successful.

Now, here is where most people make a mistake.

They think that steps 1 and 2 are the most important. But, this is not the case. Salesmen believe that successfulness of the process relies solely on the product. In other words, if you can force a person to buy something, your work is done. But, in a real-life situation, person will not be inclined to buy/help you if there is no clear benefit for him. So, this will be your priority when creating a template.

Personalized

Unless you have some epic product, you will have to personalize your emails.

People do not respond well to spam. Not personalizing your email is the first indication that you are sending emails in bulk. It does take a lot of time but it will increase your conversion rate exponentially.

How to personalize an email?

Most people will tell you that you should add first name. However, this is not enough.

Adding a name is the minimal requirement. You will also have to add some excerpts from receiver’s blog, perhaps some article title and other things that can show him that the email was created specifically for him.

Template example

“Lisa, would you like to participate in my expert roundup?”

Hey Lisa,

My name is Nick from website.com and I am a fan of your blog! I really loved your recent carrot cake recipe, especially the part where you talked about XXX.

I was wondering whether you would like to participate in my expert roundup?

Expert X, Expert Y, Expert Z already decided to take part.

The topic is “How to prepare mashed potatoes like a pro”. It would be a great exposure for your blog!

What you think?

Sincerely,

NAME

Email

Social profile links

Bonus PRO tips!

Always send follow-ups! Sometimes, person may delete your email by accident or it may end up in spam folder. By sending a second email, you make sure that a person has received your message.

Include your personal info. Add name, email, phone and all other contact details in your signature. It makes you look more legit.

If you are sending email to an unknown person, do not add links. It increases chances that email will end up in spam folder.

Always send emails to personal email address (preferably your own domain, not from free platforms like Gmail or Yahoo). This way, you can be certain that the right person got your message.

With these tips, you are ready to send, send, send! If you follow them to the point, you will skyrocket your response rate making every email outreach campaign a breeze.

What are your biggest issues when performing an email campaign? Is there something you would like to add to this article? Share it in comment section below!

Short bio: Nikolay Stoyanov is the founder of NikSto.com and an SEO expert with over 8 years of SEO experience. He’s a huge fan of Brian Dean and a proud graduate of his SEO That Works online course. He practices 100% white hat SEO techniques and has a vast experience in keyword research, on-page optimization, SEO auditing and link building. Nikolay enjoys learning new things, making new friendships and improving his skills all the time.

Hussain Omar has built his expertise as a knowledgeable and experienced SEO strategist, he’s the founder of Hustaw SEO, and the guy behind this blog. An addict to anything related to SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Internet Marketing, and Blogging.

2 Comments

This is really informative article, I have read so many articles on how to write outreach emails effectively and seems like this one is best among all of them. I will surely follow these tips.Nick recently posted…Project Management Then & Now